Super Rookie's World

It’s Official.

Awhile back you may have read about Dispencer’s claim that he commuted to work in Rock and Republic jeans. He mentioned something about how it might have been the first time ever someone had ever commuted to work in those jeans. I highly doubt that. Upon perusing some sites I noticed that former USPRO Criterium Champion Rashaan Bahati has a new team sponsored by R&R.

This team might just be the most fashionable team in all of cycling. Looking at the photos they have three different team kits including Red, White and Black. They also have perhaps the most colorful team ever assembled in the United States as shown here by former US Postal rider David Clinger and US Elite National Crit Champ Kayle Leogrande. Sure enough these guys put Grumpy’s/LGR tattoos to shame. (photo from Bahati Racing)

The White Kit (courtesy of IamAustinCarrol)

The squad is also sponsored by Cadillac so they roll large in an Escalade.

I remember first hearing about Bahati when I was paging through People Magazine’s 25 Most Eligible Bachelors of 2003 magazine and I saw him in the full Saturn kit. I was surprised at a couple of things. One, I wasn’t included and two, that People would actually include a cyclists in the story. None the less they did.

Here is the official press release from Rock Racing via Austin Carrol’s site.

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I like this team already…especially the different kits and they got Clinger on the team to really spice things up. That my friends is some Rock and Roll.
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Hotpinkevil! has been turning out the blogs left and right. They are all hilarious and just a glimpse of how awesome she really is. Check it out.

I skipped class yesterday. Because of this Sarah and I were able to attend trivia at Grumpy’s with our dear friends ‘The Drifters.’ We not only had fun, but we also kicked ass and finished in second place. This is the highest a team I have been somewhat associated with has finished and I couldn’t be happier! The amazing thing is that this isn’t even the best news of the night.

When I walked into Grumpy’s NE I saw Pat, the owner, and he had a huge smile on his face. As I walked over to him I pulled out the team business cards and the new jersey. Before I even got the jersey out of the bag he said, “Those things are awesome.” It was as if he already knew what they looked like. As it turns out his wife had already seen the jerseys the other night on the street and had reported back to him about them. Pat told me that, “hearing from my wife that the jerseys were already out there he already knew this was an sweet thing.” I don’t believe that you can ask for more from a title sponsor.

This is further proof that the two Grumpy’s bars, Northeast and Downtown, are perfect places to sponsor this team. There is going to be tons more news about the place over the next year. You better all mark on your calendars for the Tour De France to watch the action at Grumpy’s NE…rumor has it that Pat is already working on some drink specials for the 23 days of racing. It is going to be sweet, sweet, action at 22nd and 4th St in NE or at Washington and 12th Ave in Downtown.

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Oh snap. Looks like the first spy photo has been released over on Dispencer’s Site. Gander upon the sweetness!
I am very excited to be riding one of these bad boys at the track in Blaine this coming season. I wouldn’t be very excited if I was one of the other riders going up against this coordinated effort of pure style and gracefulness mixed with sheer power and 5 months of ’squats.’

Thats right. We will be bringing some ‘Pain to Blaine.’

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Oh keep a heads up for the big season kick-off party on May 19th called ‘Hello Velo.” Rumor has it that there is going to be a Beer tent among other things to really make the party fantastic! Heck yeah. BEER TENT at the track could mean a lot more ‘thrills and spills,’ but it could also mean a more festive atmosphere and a more alluring possibility to the people that want to watch some good racing!……speaking of which a team on a whole new fleet of Masi track bikes!

Yeah. Did it again with Pellizotti. Word.

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Had a meeting at the velodrome tonight. You can see my thoughts about it here. All in all the meeting was productive and I think the track is going to be the place to be for the coming year. If you aren’t doing anything on a Thursday Night come on out to the track!

There is even going to be a program this season. Word has it that there used to be a weekly program a while back. I am just excited to have it and the ability to have advertisements in it is going to be that much better.

Some of you read and commented on my post about the new CSC dope testing. If you didn’t have a chance to it is right here. To summarize I was making a point on how the teams’ testing program seemed to be run internally and not through an independent third party like Slipstream-Chipotle. To me this raised some ethical concerns about how the program was being run and would allow for doping to continue in a secretive way. Instead of getting ‘popped’ by the Fed riders would be getting ‘popped’ internally and wouldn’t be allowed to start upcoming races.

I just recieved a comment on that post from a source that states otherwise. If what Lisa says is true I applaud this new system like I do the Slipstream testing. I do ask that CSC be more clear about the ‘independence’ of the testing, but I am happy to see that CSC is taking this very seriously. Lisa is correct in stating that it is “fashionable and understandable to accuse.” My thoughts were gathered after reading various articles on the program and I never was given or felt I had received enough assurance that the two; testing and team, were being kept as separately as Lisa mentions.

I believe it is through communication and interaction like this that can change the publics opinion on this.

Here is the comment in full:

Just to clarify some things about the CSC anti-doping program which is run by my husband Bo Belhage and fellow medical doctor Rasmus Damsgaard though the Dept. Z of Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1) the program is NOT run internal to the team in any way. Bjarne Riis has no control whatsoever of how where when or what tests are run or nor does he have the possibility to cover up the results.
2) The test processing is done by International Doping Test Management (IDTM) which is based in Stockholm, Sweden and is independent of Team CSC and Dept. Z.
3) the results of the test are sent to first UCI, then on to Dept. Z and finally from there on to Bjarne Riis. Therefore Riis has no chance whatsover to hide any results that might be positive.

I know it is very fashionable and understandable to be sceptical (and also wise) but there is no Tomfoolery going on here.

Please feel free to ask any more questions of the program. Just please make sure you know the facts before you accuse.

Your’s truly, Lisa Belhage

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CSC still has the second best uniform in the pro peleton to Credit Agricole. See it here.

ATWR has published perhaps the funniest blog about local bike racing in the Twin Cities. Check it here.

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We had our first team meeting last night at Nick’s house in St. Paul. Almost everyone was able to make it and we went over the team program/goals for the upcoming year. I am really excited to be surrounded by these people for the upcoming season. Every single person has made a commitment to race, ride and help create the best team in the Twin Cities area.

We are going to promote two kick ass races; The Campus Crit and NSC Velodrome Cross Race. The team is going to be racing all over the midwest in a variety of races including; BMX, Cross, Mountain, Road and TT’s. A few of us might even have to throw down in Alleycats (Little Guy and (dis)pencer helped put on a clinic at Stupor Bowl X).

Our sponsors are fantastic and the city will be hearing all about us. That is guaranteed.

Race results may not come right away. That is fine. This team is meant to be an outlet for racers to come in and produce over time. We don’t have any cat1/2s on the road, but eventually we will be there (key on eventually). On the track we are there, but the road might take a little bit longer.

A real bright spot for the team will be the women’s squad. While the numbers are a bit small they will grow with support of the entire squad and specific sponsors that have signed on to help promote and encourage women cyclists in the Twin Cities. This is another reason why we have asked to be placed on the Midwest Cycling Made Real calendar as we are hoping to become a ’specified’ resource for women in the area.

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I decided to help start a team with a few others after I felt a little unattached with my old team. While that team is a fantastic resource and a great place to start I just thought that more could be done to support actual bike racing members. I hope that we will be able to do this.

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Tons of teams have been started in this manner. That is why we sought out the advice of local cycling hero Smithers. Utilizing resources such as him are going to make our dreams a reality. In the end this season is going to be a blast.

We are going to have a lot of fun!

New semi-redesigned site here.

This kid is only 19. He is only 1second down to Millartime at Paris-Nice. Not to shabby.
I stole this photo from Velonews. I happily will tell the world the photo is from them, but the world should also know that it is a worthless magazine to purchase. In my opinion you should just view the magazine online. Smithers feels the same way…something we agree on, amazing.
What else could we possible agree on?

Oh. That I beat him for the State Kierin Title last year. We can agree on that. Think I didn’t? Check the photographic evidence…

That is me. In the middle. Smithers is holding his head down in shame.

Where did I get this picture? From none other than ALL THE WAY RAY! 

Note: Tom H. sitting all zen like in the background…this is about the 500th time I have used this picture. People need to start taking more pictures of my dominance over Smithers…I can’t wait for this season to start…i am going craaaaazy…

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I completely broke my derailleur yesterday. No riding for me today. Argh.

We did our first ride today in our fresh new uniforms. We got about 15feet before Little Guy got our first flat of the day just down the sidewalk from Moose and Sadies. Perhaps a foreshadowing of what lay ahead for the 7 brave souls that were heading out to Afton.

All in all the ride was going well and we got some good hill action and pace line work in. About 3 miles outside of Afton and atop the Grand Coulee climb I heard a huge “scwack…clank” I looked down at my drivetrain to see that my derailuer had snapped off and went into my spokes. Oh crap. Sure enough we stopped, took off the derailuer and turned my Masi into a single speed.

Thank fully we got back on the road before our first sighting of another team while in our spanking new kits. It was ‘big Matt’ and a few other Birchwood dudes coming the other way. We didn’t acknowledge them at all(just like the cat6 dudes). While going down one of the descents we saw Hanna and the GP Elite Squad. Hanna went out of his way to say hello and scream out something. I think he said “Holy crap it is Little Guy Racing….Can I join?”

In downtown Afton we stopped and Sarah came and picked me up! What a catch she is. I was stoked that she came all the way out there to pick me up. Best of all when I called her to tell her I needed a ride she was in the dressing room trying on clothes. I will have to pay the price for that one!

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Grand Rapids vs. Roseau in the finals tonight. I couldn’t be happier. I want Grand Rapids to win. They will.

I predict 4-2 Grand Rapids with an empty netter.

Thanks to Rochester Century there are no more Private Schools in the State High School Hockey Tournament!!!!

As pointed out yesterday in the comment section White Bear Lake failed us all when they lost to Hill Murray in the Section Finals. Thanks to the newest school in Rochester we don’t have to worry about a private school winning. The other great thing about yesterday was Edina losing to Grand Rapids.

Whooooo. Every Day I Need Attention lost. I couldn’t be happier.

Only if Burnsville can pull this off….please oh please…

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The team kits finally arrived the other day. I dropped off Brandon’s kits to him at his desk today at work. He seemed pretty stoked to have them. Little did I know that he would be wearing them on the night of arrival! How about that? They must be pretty bad ass if they got one of our riders out wearing them.

Upon delivering the kits to Brandon I had a little conversation with a Flanders Super-Star who should remain nameless. Here is how this conversation totally went.

“Those are some totally awesome and amazing uniforms.”
“Thanks.”
“I totally am in complete awe at how amazing those kits are.”
“Thanks. Your point is….”
“I totally want to be on your team because of the awesome and amazing uniforms.”
“Right on. But, we are not taking any body above Cat. 3.”
“Are you sure? I will do anything. Including riding on a same-day license in the cat5s just to wear that totally amazing and fashionable uniform.”
“Ummmmm. I have to go to lunch. Bye.”

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Bjarne Riis and CSC have a new system in place to stop doping within the team. Their new anti-doping measures got the seal of approval from the UCI. I think that is crap because the CSC doping program is done within the team. The results and testing are NOT handled by an independent third party, like Slipstream-Chipotle. If a test comes back positive do you really think Riis aka Mr. 60% is going to report it?

For instance. Karsten Kroon isn’t racing in Paris-Nice. The story and press release from the team says that it is an injury from a crash at the Tour of Levi Liepheimer. I think that this is how CSC is going to cover up one of their riders getting popped. What do you think?
I think this is an example of high-brow tomfoolery.

I love that word. Tomfoolery.

Smithers recently put up a post on how to blog and how not to blog. That was really the question.

Apparently I do and don’t know how to do it by his book. I must admit that I finally agree with him on most of the thing on how to do this silly thing. Most of all you have to ‘feed the beast’ and get linked from time to time in order to keep bringing in new readers. Since I somehow find a way to allienate most of my readers the later is very, very, very important.

I am similar to Smithers in that I like a good Ego Stroke from time to time and my hit counter continues to please me every time I take a look at it. Every month I am growing in readership and most of all I haven’t changed much of the crap on here. Emphasis on crap.

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The ‘big school’ state hockey tournament starts today in St. Paul. I used to go to this thing every year, but now that it has become the suburbs vs. outstate I have slowly started to lose interest. It has been almost 10 years since a public school from the city has taken part. Hockey is a dying sport due to the money needed to play and the need of players to play for 10-12 years before their senior year. Because of this the power in the state hockey lies in the private schools and suburban schools.

Enter Burnsville. Burnsville has been an okay team the past few years and this year they had another mediocre season. When they made it to the section finals they got paired up against Holy Angles the season long #1. They didn’t back down and they beat the private school bastards. Therefore Burnsville is the team I want to win. They are the underdogs and they are from as close to a public school team as you are going to get(save for Roseau). In the end I believe that Burnsville is going to lose and Edina (season long #3) will prevail. I fucking hate Edina.

I will be at the final games with Tuffy Town and will have a report on letter jacket fashion this weekend. Perhaps I will wear my letter jacket.

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Our new kits(sorry Nickelnuts) kick major ass.

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Who ever came up with this idea of business casual was a ‘class A’ wanker. You are either foldin’ or you are all in, but none of this half ass khaki crap.